1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to digital camera, systems, and more particularly to multi-image sensor, 360 degree camera systems.
2. Description of the Background Art
Camera systems that use multiple image sensors to capture a 360 degree image are known. Such camera systems typically include three or four outwardly facing image sensors, each being optically aligned with a respective lens assembly. The image sensors are each positioned to capture a predetermined portion of the 360 degree horizontal field of view. For example, in a three-camera system, the first image sensor captures an image of the first 120 degrees, the second image sensor captures the second 120 degrees, and the third image sensor captures the last 120 degrees.
During a typical image capture process, each image sensor simultaneously captures a respective image. The captured images are then stitched together to form a single 360 degree image using known image processing techniques.
Although prior art camera systems can capture 360 degree images, they have several drawbacks. For example, current systems have relatively limited vertical field of view (FOV) coverage due to the form factors (i.e., 16:9, 4:3, etc.) of most image sensors. In efforts to improve the vertical FOV of 360 degree camera systems, some manufacturers have tilted each image sensor to face slightly upward. Although tilting the image sensors improves the vertical FOV of 360 degree camera systems, they still have a relatively limited vertical FOV.
What is needed, therefore, is a 360 degree camera system having an improved FOV. What is also needed is a 360 degree camera system with reduced line buffer, memory, and memory bandwidth requirements.